Swimming pool cleaning devices (hereinafter pool cleaners) are used for maintaining residential and commercial swimming pools in a clean and attractive condition. Pool cleaners have been developed for cleaning and/or dislodging settled debris from the floor and side wall surfaces of the swimming pool, thereby substantially reducing the need for manual vacuuming and/or brushing of the floor and side wall surfaces of the swimming pool
A typical pool cleaner may include a housing and a drive member. The drive member may attach to the housing usually through a connection to a chassis. The drive member may include wheels, endless loop tracks and combinations thereof each. In the case of a belt or endless loop track, the track may wrap around the drive and/or idler wheels or rollers. The drive member may also be used to create at least a partial vacuum so that water will be encourage to enter one or more intake ports formed in the housing.
The drive member may be powered by a power source coupled to the drive member. Alternatively, the housing may be coupled to a swimming pool water filtration system by a hose. The swimming pool water filtration system may power the drive members causing the pool cleaning device to travel about within the swimming pool to dislodge and collect settled debris.
In operation, a typical pool cleaner moves along the surface of the pool. Water may flow into the one or more intake ports. Depending on the type of pool cleaning system, the water may flow through a filter bag stored within the housing and exit out the housing through an outlet port. Alternatively, the water/debris which enters the one or more inlet ports may exit out of the housing to the swimming pool water filtration system.
A typical pool cleaner generally moves in a randomly pattern along the floor and/or walls of the swimming pool during cleaning. In general, the suction cleaning path of the pool cleaner is limited to the width of pool cleaner. While smaller pool cleaners may be more maneuverable, the smaller suction cleaning path correlates to the pool cleaner needing a substantial amount of time to clean the entire pool surface.
However, increasing the width of the pool cleaner to increase the suction cleaning path may limit the maneuverability of the pool cleaner and the ability of the pool cleaner to get into and clean certain indentations/bends/transitional areas formed within the swimming pool. Further, increasing the width of the pool cleaner also likely increases the weight of the pool cleaner. Heavier pool cleaners generally require more power/suction to move the drive members. Heavier pool cleaners may also be difficult for owners to lift in and out of the swimming pool.
Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a system and method that overcomes the above.